A CLAYTON-le-Moors man died after a friend injected him in the neck with heroin, a court heard this week.

Craig Eccles, 31, who had married just three weeks earlier, died from acute drug toxicity, the Preston Crown Court jury was told.

The drug may have been exacerbated by the effects of diazepam and codeine in his system.

The fatality occured in Mark Hale's room at a hostel on Pump Street, Blackburn.

Hale, 37, was appearing for sentence, having pleaded guilty to charges of manslaughter and administering the drug. He was jailed for three years.

Mr Eccles, of Pickup Street, Clayton, had been married in November, just a few weeks before his death last December. He was a heroin addict and in receipt of a prescription for diazepam and nitrazepam.

The court heard that on 16 December he collected his prescription and was "feeling down''.

That evening he and another man went to the Pump Street hostel where he visited a friend - not the defendant - and later went out to buy heroin.

He went on to call at the defendant's flat and asked him to inject him with heroin. At Mr Eccles' request, Hale injected him in the neck as he lay on the floor.

All his veins had collapsed, except those in the neck, so he was unable to inject himself.

But his condition went on to cause concern and an ambulance was called.

There were attempts to rouse him by shaking, slapping his face and standing him up but Mr Eccles was later certified dead.

Hale had 10 previous convictions including drug possession.

Mr Nick Kennedy, defending Hale, said: "The defendant had no notion of the deceased having taken any other type of drug that day.

"As soon as he realised the deceased was seriously in trouble he phoned the ambulance and did everything he could to help."

Mr Kennedy said Hale was genuinely remorseful about what had happened and the death had shocked him to his very core.

The heroin had been administered at the specific request of Mr Eccles and the drug had not been supplied by the defendant.

In passing sentence, Judge Peter Openshaw QC said Mr Eccles had asked some others to inject him with the drug but they had refused. He then asked the defendant to do it, as he had done on numerous previous occasions.

He said: "There is no doubt that Craig Eccles did ask for the injection to be administered in this way and that he was himself willing to take the risks involved.

"Unknown to the defendant, Mr Eccles had taken other drugs that day which may have made him more susceptible to the effects of the heroin."

But the judge went on: "Manslaughter is not committed against Craig Eccles and his family alone. It is an offence against the whole of society and any sentence passed must mark that."

He accepted that Hale had been so deeply affected by what happened that he did not sleep for a month, had tried to kill himself in prison and was now drug-free.

The judge also made reference to a letter written by Mr Eccles' parents in which they generously sought to forgive the defendant and were anxious to spare him and his family any further distress or punishment.

At the time of Mr Eccles' death his bride Jayne said her world had been turned upside down.

She added: "Heroin is an evil drug, it rips people and their families apart. Addicts start off on dope and move on to harder drugs but it's just not worth it.

Jayne, 37, who married her husband at Accrington Register Office after a whirlwind romance, added: "We were going to build a new life together. We were so in love with everything to look forward to."

Craig, a recovering addict, had vowed to beat the habit and the couple were looking forward to building a new life in Blackpool.

He left four children, four stepchildren and his parents Pat and Derrick.